


The Inbetweenie World

by Fatale (femme)



Category: due South
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-07-19
Updated: 2006-07-19
Packaged: 2017-11-27 22:27:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/667175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/femme/pseuds/Fatale
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"No," Ray insisted. "I am so not dead it's not even funny."</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Inbetweenie World

The Inbetweenie World  
RayK/Benton, Dead!Robert Fraser, PG  
WC: 1025

"No," Ray insisted. "I am so not dead it's not even funny."

 

So the afterworld wasn't all it cracked up to be, if indeed it was the afterworld, Ray thought. Lots of trees, lots of snow, and one dead Mountie.

" _Shit_ ," Ray said when he saw him. He looked around at the seemingly empty forest. "Did you walk here?"

"Don't need to," the Mountie said. "I'm dead."

" _Jesus Christ_.”

"No, just Robert Fraser."

"Fraser, Fraser - Benton's dad."

He nodded. "That's me. And you're-"

"Look, I don't even know where to start." Ray did not need this. He couldn't think of anyplace he'd rather not be, than dead with Benton's dad, trying to explain their relationship.

"-his friend, even though you seem to be having problems right now."

"He's kind of a pain in the ass," Ray said and held up his hands apologetically. "No offense or anything."

"None taken," Robert assured him.

"I mean, if he would just stop trying to show me up. Always trying to be Superman. It's cool for a while, but no one wants to live with a guy made out of metal, right?"

"I wonder if he’s showing you up or if he's trying to show off."

"What, like he's showing off for my benefit or something?” Ray scratched his head. He hoped he didn’t have dandruff. “I don't care if he's not perfect."

Robert kept tugging at his collar uncomfortably and Ray wondered if he had problems with talking about feelings in general or just feelings concerning his kid.

"Does Benton know that?"

"What," Ray said, "of course he knows that. Ben knows everything about everything."

"So you want him to be perfect but not to act like it."

"Of course -" Ray stopped. "Oh, hell. Okay, sure, I expect him to read my mind, I get it."

"That took longer than I expected."

Ray glared at the dead Mountie. "It's been a rough day with the dying and all."

"Oh, I understand."

"Guess you do, since you're dead, too."

"That would be the idea," Robert said vaguely.

"Sure, yeah, greatness," Ray said. "So, _this_ is the afterlife."

Robert shrugged. "Eh, not really. It's somewhere inbetween life and death."

"How did I go?"

"You don't remember?"

Ray was getting frustrated. Ben's dad didn't seem to explain himself any better than Ben, any better than _Yoda_ for that matter. "I wouldn't of asked if I didn't remember."

"There was a waffle," Robert prompted.

"I was killed by a waffle?" Ray asked disbelievingly.

"No, son, by a gun. Benton was on the other side of the diner and couldn't get to you in time, so he threw a waffle."

"That makes sense." Ray said because it did, in Ben’s odd way. "But it didn't save me?"

"It deflected the bullet a tiny bit, altered its path, like so many things in life. The bullet grazed your head."

"So I was saved by a waffle."

"Depends," Robert said.

"Depends on what?"

Robert looked around, and gestured at the trees and snow. "It depends on what you decide."

"I get to decide whether I live or die?" Ray asked, just for clarification. This wasn't monopoly; if he got the rules wrong, he couldn’t wipe the board clean and try again.

"In a sense. It's more than most people get."

Ray wiped his nose. "It's simple: I wanna live."

"You sure about that?"

"Yes, I am sure about that. Now how do I blow this joint?" Ray rubbed his arms a few times before realizing he was wearing his favorite leather jacket and a pair of gloves. "Where'd these come from?"

"You wanted them badly enough."

"So all I gotta do is want something badly enough and I'll get it?"

"That's about it, yes."

Ray couldn't help grinning. This was a-okay, this inbetweenie world. "So why don't you live in a palace or something? Why stomp through the woods?"

"I made my choice a long time ago, Yank."

"Oh," Ray said, looking around again. His breath made little puffs in front of his face. He'd given up smoking for good a couple years back and if Fraser were here, he'd make a joke about him still puffing away. At that, he felt a sharp pang. Oh yeah, Fraser. "How did I forget?" Ray wondered, surprising himself when it slipped off his tongue.

"Forget what?"

Ray shook his head as if to clear his thoughts, only his thoughts weren't clear, couldn't ever be. They were all jumbled together into pictures, flashes of memory, warmth, fire, Fraser.

"You made me forget," Ray said accusingly at Robert. "How could I forget?" He didn't know who he was angrier at: Ben's dad or himself.

"I didn't make you forget anything, that's just the nature of this world."

"This inbetweenie world, gotcha," Ray said, then: "I don't want to forget."

"Son, you're close to dead."

Ray shook his head adamantly. His eyes stung, but he wasn't cold anymore. Maybe he’d hesitated before, maybe life above the border wasn’t all it cracked up to be, and he couldn’t stop picking fights with Fraser, but he _wanted_ this life, he wanted Ben. “No," Ray insisted. "I am so not dead it's not even funny."

Robert nodded approvingly. "Then you know what you have to do."

To the left, there was a cliff he hadn't noticed until now. Below, there were only more trees and snow, but there was a warmth and Ray knew that somewhere beyond that last hill, there was Fraser waiting for him, alive and wonderful. He took a step towards the cliff and stopped. "There's uh, there aren't any parachutes or anything in the inbetweenie world?" At Robert's look, he shook his head. "Didn't think so. Tally ho, or however it goes. I don't even know what that means."

"Your body is getting colder," Robert reminded him.

"Yeah," Ray said, "can't be having that. It was good getting to know you, kind of."

"You too, son," Robert said and tipped his hat.

"All right, Fraser, no way you're getting all the blankets to yourself tonight. I am so coming home," Ray promised, and jumped.

 

 

 

 

end.


End file.
